Suicidal Ideation and Other Thoughts

photo of North Pole (NOAA/Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory)

What if you get suicidal thoughts without taking CHANTIX? The advertisements for the drug always warn about possible side effects including such ideations, but the problem is, if you are entertaining such dark notions and there is nothing to come off of which will bring you back to your normally optimistic state, then you've definitely got a real problem. It’s actually comforting and nice to know that there's a cause for the kind of hopeless feelings that make you want to jump off a cliff. Other things that may create suicidal thoughts are the choice of candidates in the current election, the state of your marriage or relationship, the state of your career or bank account, dismissive treatment even from people who you feel are beneath you and the possibility that Kim Jong-un could invent an ICBM with the capability of delivering warheads to targets in the United States--or arm ISIS with such weapons. Predictions about the melting of the North Pole and the consequent global effects on el Nino and the Gulf Stream may also make you want to put an end to it all. But after all these problems are solved, you're still not taking Chantix and you still are suffering from bad thoughts then you have come up against the kind of brick wall that may actually make you want to take your own life.